(GENESIS 2:4-17) This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven. 5 Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. 6 But a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground. 7 Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. 8 The Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. 9 Out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four rivers. 11 The name of the first is Pishon; it flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 The gold of that land is good; the bdellium and the onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it flows around the whole land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is Tigris; it flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. 16 The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:
God formed man's physical body out of the earth's dust, and then He breathed life into the man's body. And because God created man with a free will, He had to give the man options from which to choose, otherwise this would not be real love, on God's part or on the man's part. Now, God made this decision extremely easy - eat from ANYTHING - except from THE ONE TREE!!! Because God is loving and cares, He gives clear commandments and directions to follow. Also because He is loving and cares, He gives fair warning of consequences and discipline in order to keep us on track. So it was laid out very clearly: eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil would bring death - a separation from God.
From this we know, our bodies are only temporary. But as we also were created with a soul, we can choose to be filled with the Lord's Holy Spirit in order to live eternally in heaven and have a close, personal relationship with God - or not. To be filled with life - or remain spiritually dead forever.
The decision back in the Garden of Eden essentially was: remain with God, or go off and do things your own way. Because we are all now born into sin and are separated from God, our decision is: keep doing things our own way, or be reconciled with God and do things His way. Choice is all about trust and obedience. Do we love the Lord and desire to know Him more? And do we trust Him and what He says enough so that we desire to follow Him and His will?
No comments:
Post a Comment